DIY LEDs - The write-up

[Reef_Matrix29]

21", your standard 75 gallon tank. Yeah, my next aquascaping will be the same, so I'm drafting a new design for my arrays now. What's the height of your tallest land mass that will have sps on them, that will determine the optics, current and placement as well.

I think that if you space them well, that should be a good number and you don't need 40 degree optics necessarily, unless you want the lowest current possible. My fixture is 12" above the water line and these are the PAR results I'm getting, so you may be a few inches deeper, but you could also have you fixture closer too for compensation.

 

[fstar25]

Re: DIY LEDs - The write-up

Check nanotuners. Better price on the RB XRE but I think you will need to contact them to see if it's the better Bin. Could be the reason they are less expensive :hmm2:

fyi. they currently have the d3 d14 in the xr-e royal blues as of yesterday

 

[Santoki]

I just put on 60 degree optics from Rapid LED last night and overall my PAR almost doubled from not having any optics at all. I was running both W and B at 500 mA and was getting 240 near the top and 160 at the bottom, but with the optics I had 400 at the top and 225 at the bottom so I was able to turn them down to 350mA for whites and kept the blues at 500mA. Light spill is much less now obviously and it looks brighter at lower current, so more electricity savings as well!

Perhaps this should be re-posted here for reference:

-R

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

I knew I saw this chart somewhere, but what current are these LEDs being pushed at and is this for all three lumenaire's together over your 75 gallon?

 

[Kolognekoral]

Wesley,

I would be hanging my fixture almost direct over the water. As some of the rock work is very close to the surface near the overflow, I was mentally reserving this area for tidal Acros, such as A. humilis. I wouldn't bother with optics in this area. I would mainly use them around the perimeter of the tank, where the deepest zones are. I may just try a few different optics and see what happens. Extras can be worked into the next lighting project.

 

[ReefEnabler]

If you have the option, get clear. Rippled and frosted are meant to diffuse the light slightly, which we don't want - and they're also generally less efficient.

I've only seen clear narrow optics; I've never seen a wide or medium optic that is clear; I'm interested to check them out if you know of any.

From the testing I have done, the ripples look to put out slightly more light overall, but they keep an average brightness across the whole cone more, wheras the frosteds have a bit smoother light falloff with a noticeable bright spot in the middle, which probably doesn't matter as you mentioned we are using so many LEDs that the artifacts average out.

 

[stormrider27]

Forgive me if this question has already been asked, I would have used the search feature but......, can an Apex controler be used to dim LEDs?

Thanks!

 

[Santoki]

I knew I saw this chart somewhere, but what current are these LEDs being pushed at and is this for all three lumenaire's together over your 75 gallon?

These readings are from one 24 emitter Q4 XR-E array with a 1:1 blue/white ratio. All LEDs in the unit were driven at 700mA.

The drive current doesn't really matter. What's more important is the drastic PAR drop off at distance when optics are not utilized.
employing ANY type of optics is almost like getting free light...
-R

 

[kcress]

Wesley,

interesting to hear! How deep is your tank? I am currently developing a system for my 600 litre tank, which is about 70cm/31" deep and thought of using 40° optics to focus into the depth. Plus, as my tank is viewable from 3 sides, positioning of the lights and their optic is very important. Something most manufactures do not take into account. Not all of us pile our decoration from front to back!

While I'm writing about this project, I am planning to use 48 leds, 24/24 XP-G and XP-E rbs. This tank is about 136cm/55" x 60cm/23", does this sound like enough light for sps? Better too much as too little, one can always drop the current.

Kolognekoral; I can't imagine not using optics for a tank deeper than about 24".

 

[laverda]

Forgive me if this question has already been asked, I would have used the search feature but......, can an Apex controler be used to dim LEDs?

Thanks!

Yes it can.

 

[Kolognekoral]

Kolognekoral; I can't imagine not using optics for a tank deeper than about 24".

I couldn't imagine this, either! What a waste of light. :sad2:

Not using optics was never an option. I would prefer to focus more light toward the bottom, therefore I was considering the 40° vs the 60° lens. I will most likely try both over different parts of the tank and may leave a few LEDs without optic over the 'shallow' parts, where the rocks are closer to the surface.

It would seem as though 60° optics are good for tanks of about 24"/65cm depth, while over this depth we need to use, at least partially, 40° optics. Deeper tanks will clearly require a tighter focus, if the light is to reach to the ground.

 

[DFason]

Here's a link to what I have been slaving over! My LED controller with OLED screen, drivers, USB hook up and a few other goodies.

This is only a teaser!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XH0fkYXr18

-Dave

 

[wfournier]

Anyone have experience with Carclo 20mm optic holders for the Cree XP series? It looks like the 10170 reflector (about 70-80 degrees 90%+ efficiency) is what I want to use on my project for my 75. I'm getting XP-E and XP-G leds on Cutter 10mm square boards and finding optic holders is proving a little difficult. It looks like Carclo 10566 is the part I want, but finding someone who sells them is proving rather difficult.

FYI the 10170 reflector is available from Future Electronics for $1.38-1.07 depending on how many you order (compared to $6 from Cutter).

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

Wesley,

I would be hanging my fixture almost direct over the water. As some of the rock work is very close to the surface near the overflow, I was mentally reserving this area for tidal Acros, such as A. humilis. I wouldn't bother with optics in this area. I would mainly use them around the perimeter of the tank, where the deepest zones are. I may just try a few different optics and see what happens. Extras can be worked into the next lighting project.

Yeah, sounds like trial and error would be the best thing, a mix of a few 80 and 60 degree optics for those corals right near the surface if you decide to use any at all. Do you have a PAR meter to be able to test your configurations out with a little more accuracy?

 

[Reef_Matrix29]

These readings are from one 24 emitter Q4 XR-E array with a 1:1 blue/white ratio. All LEDs in the unit were driven at 700mA.

The drive current doesn't really matter. What's more important is the drastic PAR drop off at distance when optics are not utilized.
employing ANY type of optics is almost like getting free light...
-R

Drive current really doesn't matter? Well, the optics were a definite boost in PAR for me, I would agree, but when it came to "dialing in" the range that I wanted, the only option I had was the current knob and it worked better than I expected as I dropped the whites from 500 to 350mA to get nearly 400 at the top part of the tank and around 200 on the sand. So a combination of them both was necessary and important in my case at least.

 

[MontyJack]

Hi wfourier,

I’m on the same path. I wrote a PM to Cutter and I got an answer that corresponds to what you have found. I’m about to order XPGs and XPEs on 20mm stars with 36.1 deg. optic, and they recommend the 10566 holder for it. But I don’t know how they fit on 10mm squares?

By the way, I cannot find any clear 30-40 deg. optic. I mean one which is comparable with Carclo quality.

 

[ti-christ]

Which optics to you suggest for XP-G/XP-E?

Where can I buy it?

Nobody is using optics on XP-G?

 

[wfournier]

I think one of the issues is that the optics currently available tend to be fairly expensive. I was looking at the Carclo 10170 reflector as it works our to be about 70 degrees and is relatively inexpensive from Future Electronics.

Edit, but I'm trying to find a source for the holder (sounds like cutter might have them but I am waiting to hear back).

 

[widmer]

You guys notice that LEDSupply has a 3-up XP-G now? It looks like it uses R5 emitters if it's putting out 417 lumens @ 350 mA. Ends up being pretty reasonably priced as well @ $22 ea especially when you consider the 3-up optic is $1.50, bringing "each LED" + optic to under $8.

http://ledsupply.com/creexpg-w417.php

http://ledsupply.com/carclo-optics-xpg-3up.php

 

[widmer]

I think one of the issues is that the optics currently available tend to be fairly expensive. I was looking at the Carclo 10170 reflector as it works our to be about 70 degrees and is relatively inexpensive from Future Electronics.

Edit, but I'm trying to find a source for the holder (sounds like cutter might have them but I am waiting to hear back).

These are as cheap as a person could ask for for the XP-G at less than $1.50 each including holder:

http://ledsupply.com/carclo-optics-xpg.php

FWIW it almost looks like they are the exact same optics that Carlco supplies as XR-E optics but their output pattern is simply recalculated to account for the different incident angle when you strap it on an XP-G. My point is that I would think a person could play with XR-E optics on an XP-G to see if they like the light coming out of them and be potentially quite happy, if they are the sort that attaches onto the star rather than the actual LED die.